Iw Official To Replace Standish

Caskey Named Administrator

October 21, 1994|By JOANN FROHMAN Daily Press

ISLE OF WIGHT — Assistant Isle of Wight County Administrator Douglas Caskey was appointed interim county administrator Thursday, replacing Myles Standish, who this week accepted a position as Suffolk city manager.

Caskey, 45 who followed Standish to Isle of Wight as director of community development in 1987, will assume the top post when Standish leaves on Dec. 1.

A graduate of East Carolina University, Caskey was assistant director of community development in Suffolk, and Standish was assistant Suffolk city manager when the two men came to Isle of Wight.

Caskey's appointment came late Thursday, following a brief closed meeting after the supervisors' regular monthly session. The supervisors did not indicate how they will proceed to find a permanent replacement for Standish.

In another matter, supervisors approved plans for a controversial 180-acre industrial park that has created a rift among citizens in the Carrsville area.

Despite the emotional pleas of several adjoining landowners who begged to preserve the big tract of farmland for which the project is proposed, the board voted unanimously to rezone the property to a manufacturing zone.

The $7 million project is on Route 58, just east of the Union Camp Corp., near Franklin.

Atlantic Building Components plans to build the infrastructure for the park, which the company projects will initially create 75 jobs, and when it is filled more than 1,000 jobs.

About a half-dozen citizens spoke in favor of the project, which they said would pump much-needed tax dollars into the county. Developers estimate the county could eventually receive as much as $1 million a year in tax revenue.

Supporters of the plan presented petitions with more than 400 names in favor of the park.

But opponents of the park questioned whether there is a demand for an industrial park near Carrsville and suggested there are other more suitable sites available in Isle of Wight already zoned for industry.

The citizens against the park also said they feared it would create noise and air pollution in their rural area and create traffic hazards on three-lane Route 58, a major road in the county.

Atlantic Building Components plans to use about 50 acres of the site for its own business of manufacturing building parts to be used in manufactured housing.

The remaining sites will be subdivided for a multi-use industrial park.

Despite its rural nature, the proposed site is listed in the growth corridor on the county's comprehensive land use plan, officials said.